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Why No Cyborg And Beast Boy On TNT’s Titans Team?

ByNick Tylwalk|

Cyborg and Beast Boy are two of the characters that come to mind as soon as anyone says the words “Teen Titans.” Not only were they key members of the team during its comic book heyday in the 1980s, they’ve been a focus of most animated depictions of the group, including the current Teen Titans Go! Yet neither of these good friends got the call for TNT’s Titans series, as revealed earlier today.

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What gives? How can there be a live action Titans show without Vic or Gar? I think there are two things going on here:

Cyborg and Beast Boy are effects-heavy characters

If you’re doing them right, it’s difficult not to imagine an expensive effects budget for a guy who is more than half robot and another who turns into green versions of animals and other creatures. You can’t really skimp there, so excluding them is a good way to keep Titans from becoming too rich for TNT’s blood.

You could, of course, alter the characters in other ways to keep costs down, like having Cyborg have more human-looking mechanical parts or losing Gar’s green skin and having him transform into realistic animal forms. But those moves could easily turn off comic fans, so I’m glad the showrunners didn’t go that route — at least not yet.

DC and Warner Bros. have other plans for Cyborg

Teen Titans Go! aside, DC has really been pushing Cyborg hard as a member of the Justice League since the New 52 initiative a few years ago. As such, he’s already going to be on that team for the upcoming Justice League movies, and the plans are to give him a solo film as well.

Warner has made no bones about the fact that its live-action TV shows and movies are separate entities, and for some characters, like the Flash, there are going to be different versions of the same hero running around. My guess is that’s seen as okay for a character as iconic as the Fastest Man Alive, but riskier for someone who the company is still trying to build up like Cyborg. No reason muddy the waters with casual fans if you can avoid it.

I’m sure it’s not out of the question for Titans to either work in references to Cyborg and Beast Boy (it would be quite simple to mention Vic as a former member or friend who “graduated” to the big time) or have them show up later once the series has hopefully gained some traction. But even though they’ll be missed, I can understand why the team will have to do without them, and the roster that has been announced should still be just fine.

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